Weights: Williams 157, Martinez 159; Arreola 263, Minto 218

By Sean McDaniel: Light middleweight Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KO’s) weighed in at 157 for his bout tomorrow against Sergio Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Martinez, 34, weighed 159. Williams was supposed to be fighting World Boxing Council/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavli. However, Pavlik had to back out due to a staph infection on his left hand. Rather than wait around to fight Pavlik later in the month, Williams decided to go ahead and take the fight with Martinez.

On other fights on the card, heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (27-1, 24 KO’s) weighed in at a hefty 263 for his bout against Brian Minto (34-2, 21 KO’s). For his part, Minto weighed in at a light in comparison 218. The weight for Arreola is especially disappointing because Arreola had said after his 10th round stoppage defeat at the hands of WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in September that he was going to dedicate himself to training in the future. But the 263, a full 12 pounds more than he weighed against Klitschko, seems to suggest that Arreola still has work to do in getting down to a more manageable weight for his fights.

Minto is a tough fighter, which is why it’s strange that Arreola is coming in so heavy for the bout. Arreola’s best weight is around 235 to 240. Arreola was able to hit that mark on a consistent basis from 2006 to 2008. But something has gone wrong seemingly with either the diet or the training of Arreola since that time, because he’s weighed in at the following numbers since his fight against Chazz Witherspoon last year: 258, 254, 255, 251 and 263.

Former WBO welterweight champion Carlos Quintana (26-2, 20 KO’s) weighed in at 153.5 for his bout against Jesse Feliciano (15-7-3, 9 KO’s). Quintana, 33, was stopped in the 1st round last year by Paul Williams. Months earlier, Quintana had pulled off a huge upset in winning a 12 round decision over Williams to capture his WBO belt. Unfortunately, Quintana got taken out fast in their rematch and stopped in the 1st round. Quintana has been inactive since beating Joshua Onyango by a 4th round TKO a year ago in October. Feliciano weighed in at 152.5. Feliciano, 27, has lost his last two fights by stoppages to Kermit Cintron and Andrey Tsurkan. You can expect that Quintana will likely get him out of there at some point too unless Quintana is showing a lot of ring rust due his year off from boxing.

Heavyweight Chazz Witherspoon (26-1, 18 KO’s) weighed in at 234 for his bout against heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (32-2, 20 KO’s). Witherspoon, 28, was defeated last year in a 3rd round disqualification to Arreola. Thompson, 38, weighed 250. Thompson was stopped by IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round last year in July. Thompson fought fairly well against Klitschko, but lacked the power to really trouble him. Since then, Thompson has fought once, beating journeyman Adnan Serin March.

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